The Morning Coffee Jazz Guitar Practice Routine

I was trying to improve on so many areas of my playing at once, it felt like I was always just scratching the surface. I was constantly treading water.

Even though I felt overwhelmed though, I was always looking for ways to get better.

I was constantly reading, and always looking for better ways to do things. I bought way too many books. On guitar, on learning, and on philosophy. Anything that could give me an edge, I wanted.

After some time, I stumbled onto what might be the perfect practice routine. There wasn’t a single source this came from, but just the right combination of things I had read and heard over the years. 

The routine was simple, focused, and flexible. And best of all, it worked. I was getting noticeable results week over week.

Now, I get all of my practice done in the first 30-40 minutes of the day.

I sit down with a cup of coffee and my guitar, and in less than an hour I’ve gotten my practice in for the day.

I’m never overwhelmed with things to practice anymore, because I just do my work for the day and move on.

And the best part is that now it’s an automatic and fun part of my day.

Keep reading to learn this routine for practicing jazz guitar, and see how you can fit it into your own schedule.

Practicing Jazz Guitar: The Morning Coffee Routine

The morning coffee practice routine works like this:

• 20 minutes of focused work on one core skill
• 20 minutes of working on a jazz standard

That’s it! 20 minutes is what worked best for me – you can use any amount of time that fits your schedule. Let’s check out how to put this routine together for yourself.

Core Skills

There are 3 “core skills” I like to base this routine around:

• Chords – Try learning easy jazz guitar chords or drop 3 chords first
• Scales – You’ll get a lot of mileage out of the 5 major scale patterns
• Arpeggios – Great for building up your technique, start with major 7 arpeggios and go from there

These are the things you need to wrap your fingers around on the guitar. I’ve found that everything else can be done in context.

Theory, ear training, rhythm, this can all be done as a part of practicing your chords, scales, and arpeggios. 

The definition of doing one core skill at a time can be a little bit flexible. It all depends on your ability level, and what you need to work on.

One skill at a time might mean working on one scale pattern, but playing it all over the guitar neck so you really learn it.

It might mean cleaning up one chord quality – making sure your major 7 chords are all clean, for example.

It might mean choosing one key and working on each of the 7 diatonic arpeggios within it.

The important thing is that you pick the smallest amount of technical work that you can improve on. And then really spend some time on it. 

Exhaust the possibilities of making that one thing better. Play it too much. If you get bored, that’s great – now it’s time to find a way to make that skill a little trickier for you to do.

This is the part of the routine where you’re actively improving on some aspect of your playing. 

Working on a Jazz Standard

Here’s the fun part (for me, at least).

For the second half of the session, you’ll mostly work on a song you want to be able to play. It could be a new song you’re just learning, or one you already know but want to keep polishing.

I’ll place a slight emphasis on whatever the “skill of the day/week/etc” is, since that’s what I just spent a bunch of time and energy working on.

But I’ll also use this as an opportunity to keep my other skills from getting rusty.

If I’m focusing on scales…

I might spend some extra time playing the melody, or working on making smooth transitions to a new scale at any key changes as I solo.

But I’ll also spend time playing through the chords and playing arpeggios that match the chord changes.

I’m not trying to get better at anything but scales here, but this keeps everything else from getting lost in the process.

Another day or week, my skill I’m focusing on might be chords… so that’s where I’ll put some extra attention. 

Although I’ll still be spending a little time using the tune as a vehicle to keep my scales and arpeggios sharp.

The Timeline:

I like to take it slow, spending about 2-3 weeks per focus topic. This might seem like a long time, but it works for me. And it works for my students.

Part of why I like this timeline is that it’s simple. There are 5 Main scale shapes, and 5 days in the work week.

This lets me do one pattern a day, but really dig into it.

By the time I’ve gone 3 weeks, I’ve worked hard on each pattern 3 times. Enough to make improvements, and review the skills I’ve learned in that area.

Then I’ll move on to the next topic (there also happen to be 5 main chord shapes, and 5 main arpeggio shapes…).

It works for me, and makes sense for my schedule. That being said, feel free to alter this timeline however you need for your own practice.

Why It Works

This program is built around 3 things that are great for making consistent progress in your jazz guitar playing.

Focus

By really focusing all of my energy in one area of playing (one single scale pattern, one chord shape/chord quality, one arpeggio pattern), I’m giving all of my attention to that one thing.

Instead of trying to go through a huge checklist in a short period of time, I can just relax and focus on this one thing. 

All of my focus is on a single task for the session. That means I get a lot better at that particular skill. And as a bonus, the improvements I make will stick around longer.

It’s important to remember that the definition of “doing one thing” is going to change as your skills improve.

Right now, one thing might mean practicing a single arpeggio shape.

But in a few months, that could mean one set of arpeggio shapes through a ii V I progression.

As these skills become easier, we can add complications to keep it challenging and entertaining for us.

Habit

I call this the “morning coffee” routine because that’s when I would usually do it.

My wife would leave to teach her zero hour jazz band, I would pour myself a coffee, and I’d sit down to play.

It doesn’t have to be coffee, or even in the morning. Whenever works for you is just fine.

The important thing I did was I started practicing immediately after doing something I was going to do every day anyway. I drink coffee every morning, so why not play guitar while I’m at it?

Before too long, it wasn’t even a thought. I just did it. Pour coffee, practice jazz guitar.

It even got to where I would feel “off” for the day if something came up and I had to skip my practice time.

Build yourself a habit if you can… it will help you practice more consistently.

Repetition

In both the short term and long term, this routine has repetition. So much repetition, it might seem boring.

But this is actually the important part -repetition is the key to developing a skill. The only way you can start to learn a physical skill like guitar is if you get your fingers moving.

Ideally you’ll be playing things correctly the majority of the time. But mistakes are inevitable. Getting your fingers moving is the only way they will start to learn the movements you want them to do. 

Mistakes can be corrected, either on your own or by a good teacher. But if you don’t develop the motor skills in the first place, there won’t be anything to correct or work with.

Don’t worry about getting it perfect. You just have to do it.

When you’re going over a scale, a set of chords, or whatever you’re working on over and over again, you reach a point where you notice things.

Things that no one could ever explain to you:

• Little quirks in your playing
• A sudden observation that opens up your understanding of the skill
• A deeper understanding of the material than any book or lesson could give you

Plus if you repeat it enough, the scale/chord/arpeggio will just seem to “play itself”… which I think is where the real magic is.

Conclusion

Give this practice routine a try today. It’s a little open ended, I know – but that’s part of what makes it work. Give it a couple of weeks, and you’ll start to see some positive results in your own playing.

The important thing is that you pick one skill and stick with it for a while. Really work on it. Get those reps in.

And after a period of time (hopefully 2-3 weeks), move on to another skill.

As you cycle through your skills over the coming months, you’ll start to notice that your overall skill level is going up steadily.

Keep going. And if you need help with something, let me know. I’m always happy to help you out. You can also ask me anything jazz guitar related and I’ll get back to you with an answer asap.